Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was #8 on my list of Must See 2011 movies… That I missed. Now that I’ve seen it, I think it would have been right at home in my top 5. It’s a fantastic movie.
The first hour or so I found myself wondering where it was going. The only thing you really know for sure is a mole exists and he/she must be found. The story unfolds in a series of flashbacks and quick scenes and jumps around quite a bit. Sometimes, it can be distracting and hard to follow but Tinker manages to stay interesting. Perhaps fascinating is a better word for it. It reminded me of The Insider with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. That movie unfolded very slowly but I absolutely loved it.
So yes, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy requires patience but it all pays off in the end. The further into the story you get, the more engrossing it becomes. I was glued to the screen when the answers to my questions arrived.
Ironically, I was slow getting out to see the film in theaters. Having said that, if you haven’t seen it yet, you may as well wait to rent it. It the type of movie meant for quiet Sunday afternoons spent on a comfortable couch with a blanket. (I would include a really well made sandwich too.)
I was shocked when I pulled up Something Borrowed page on Rotten Tomatoes. 15% on the Tomatometer? Yikes.
Here are a few excerpts from the reviews:
“I suspect most of us would cross a crowded highway barefoot and bleeding to avoid any contact whatsoever with the insufferable twits populating this gruesome rom-com.” Matt Brunson
“Something Borrowed” asks the question, “Is it possible to pull off a romantic comedy in which you don’t want anyone to end up with anyone else?” The answer is, “No.” Chris Hewitt
Gross. Yet, as I write this review, 66% of audiences love it. That’s a pretty big disconnect is it not? I support Team Audience on this one.
I just didn’t think it was as bad as many critics think. To be fair, the movie is DEFINITELY a stereotypical romantic comedy with plenty of familiar character arcs but the film still has it’s own unique spirit.
Based on the novel by Emily Giffin, the story follows a group of twenty somethings who struggle with love, betrayal, friendship and more. I saw the film with my girlfriend who is a big fan of the books and I have to admit… I laughed a lot.
SOMETHING BORROWED IS PRETTY FUNNY
The laughs are almost 100% due to the scene stealing performance of John Krasinski. Every time he shows up on screen the laughs aren’t far behind. My first complaint about the film is that there were large gaps without his character. These are the moments when the movie slowed down for me.
Essentially, Krasinski’s performance is very similar to the dry, sarcastic and endearing delivery he gives as Jim Halpert from The Office. I love The Office! Each and every remark and mannerism shown made me laugh.
JOHN KRASINSKI STOLE THE SHOW
The rest of the cast, while not nearly as funny, have great chemistry including Kate Hudson who I’m not normally a fan of. The story itself is fairly straight forward but there are enough twists and turns here to keep you entertained. I was.
Not really a fan of that trailer.
To a certain extent, I can see why critics seem to hate the movie. It’s a typical romantic comedy but there will be tons of people out there who will love it. The theater was packed when I saw the film and the whole room was constantly filled with laughter. They had fun. My girlfriend and I had fun.
Insidious is the type of movie you don’t realize you’re enjoying because you’re too busy trying to predict the next time something gruesome will jump out at you. If you’re a fan of horror movies there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
We decided to catch a 6:30 show because the film is rated 14A and we wanted to avoid all the punks that tend to ruin movies like this.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. It was unavoidable. It’s tough to get excited for a movie when you spend the first 10 minutes begging for people around you to shut up. However, two oblivious women continually made me laugh.
The first woman entered the packed theater and literally stormed up the stairs looking for 2 seats. She entered the aisle in front of us 2 minutes before show time and rudely demanded answers.
“Are these seats taken?”
After a quick wave to her boyfriend, who is probably terrified of her, she left to purchase a soda. Meanwhile, a polite gentleman spoiled our perfect situation with empty seats on either side by asking us to ‘skooch’ over. The trailers had just begun, we thought we were home free!
His girlfriend joined him and instantly began complaining about all the chatter going on.
“This better not go on for the entire movie.”
Back to the rude girl, who had returned with her soda. Her boyfriend was in HER seat. She never sat down, why was that HER seat? That wasn’t going to fly at all. She demanded that he move. This is a girl who isn’t happy unless everything goes her way. I remembered wondering what would have happened if he didn’t move over. She probably would have stood there and yelled at him.
So here we are, the trailers are almost over and two angry ladies are annoyed by several loud groups of kids. The perfect setup. I knew one of these two grumpy women would tell them to shut up eventually. I stopped worrying.
Insidious starts very slowly. I was actually a little bored at first which didn’t help the restless crowd we were apart of. I was really hoping the movie would start with a huge scare so people would pay attention.
During this period, the oblivious women demonstrated just how selfish and oblivious they were.
The rude woman in front of us checked her cell phone no less than 10 times in that first half an hour. She didn’t turn the brightness down or try to shield it. She just didn’t care. At the same time she was ‘shhhhh-ing’ people around her.
The woman beside us who we ‘skooched’ for didn’t know how to whisper at all. She spent more time complaining about the people talking than anyone yet didn’t realize she was adding to the problem.
“This was the worst 20 bucks I ever spent. I’m leaving. Are you coming or not?” she asked her annoyed boyfriend. He didn’t respond by the way.
It appeared hopeless. People wouldn’t shut up and no one was coming to the rescue. Until Insidious really got going.
I jumped at least a dozen times wondering where this haunted house/possessed child thriller was going to go next. Then it was revealed that this wasn’t a typical haunted house movie at all. It was something entirely different, original and entertaining. By the time we got to the one hour mark the entire crowd had settled in for an intense and frightening story.
It was at this point, I realized just how much I liked Insidious. The first time you see a demon version of Darth Maul appear you will find yourself nervously wondering when he will show up again. I liked that the ghosts and creatures in this movie behaved differently than most we’ve seen before. They don’t just disappear. They linger for longer and more terrifying moments.
That’s why horror movies are fun. When a premise is established and you think you know the rules yet you’re still shocked at every turn it’s inspiring as a fan of horror.
By the time the whole plot was revealed I was smiling ear to ear after every single scare. If you love horror, Insidious is definitely one to check out while it’s still in theaters. Hopefully you get a better audience than we did. You need a great audience for movies like this to fully experience the atmosphere the filmmakers work so tirelessly to create. If Insidious sucked we were doomed. Thankfully it didn’t.
When we left the theater, I spotted both women at the customer service counter demanding their money back. Some people love to complain.
PS: It’s nice to see a new tale from the brilliant minds behind Saw. I’ll be watching Saw (the first) and Insidious back to back in the future.
People say you aren’t supposed to go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.
Likewise, I don’t think it’s wise to go see a movie without having dinner. Especially when you’re trying to eat healthy. Yet still, I found myself looking up at that wonderful menu before The King’s Speech began.
I ended up going with a hot dog and, you guessed it, cheesy fries. I highly enjoy cheesy fries.
My girlfriend and I made our way into the theater, which was not surprisingly full due to the overwhelming Oscar buzz the film is receiving. We sat in the third row and took over about 5 seats for our coats, drinks and food. Then the movie started and Colin Firth filled the screen with all his stammering magnificence.
Within about 10 minutes, something occurred to me… People were laughing more than I was. A lot.
I’m thinking a lot of the people in the audience were a little more fluent in royal history than I was. There were a ton of references I simply didn’t understand but the crazy laugher behind us did.
“HaHaaaaaaaaah”
It was kind of like an adult version of Nelson from the Simpsons.
Even my girlfriend leaned towards me and said:
“We should have gone to see Black Swan.”
There I was, watching a film about the prestigious King of England and wolfing down Cheesy Fries while the jokes flew over my head. I realized I wasn’t exactly nestled happily inside the film’s target demographic. In fact, I estimated around 42% of the people in the at theater were probably there when it happened. (Especially Nelson.)
Finishing those fries was bitter sweet. Bitter because I didn’t have anymore fries but sweet because the film actually gets better as it rolls along and it had my full attention.
Eventually, we arrived at the scene where the King curses. All kinds of four letter words come out of his mouth and it made me laugh out loud.
I started thinking again.
That’s what made me laugh? F-Bombs? What does that say about me? I’m not sure exactly but I do know what it says about the film. From that moment on, I was entertained and happy I took the time to see it. It found a way to pull me in.
When it comes down to the final envelope at Oscar time it will between The King’s Speech and The Social Network I think. Two completely different films. (Guess which one I identified with the most.) I think The King’s Speech is a fantastic film but I’m throwing my money behind the movie that allows me to eat cheesy fries guilt free.
Click the link to read all about my high hopes that an amazing superhero movie is possible in January.
Honestly, I think Seth Rogen’s comic book adaptation wasn’t nearly as terrible as many seemed to think. There was a ton of negative buzz from the second they announced this project was moving forward.
Lets get one thing straight: It doesn’t suck.
First and foremost, I think Seth does a pretty great job as The Green Hornet. I bought it. Honestly, I don’t really know much about the characters but in my opinion, this is Kato’s movie. Jay Chou is pretty fantastic in the film and is pretty much responsible for carrying all the action scenes.
I’ll can’t get enough slow motion fight sequences. I love them. Action is the number one reason why I went to see the film in the first place.
While the movie did have a ton of fights including some fantastic car chases with guns blazing, I did have some major problems with the film…
Good thing it didn’t cost me anything.
Thanks to my Scene card, I was able to use my points to score a ticket for nothing. Nothing like a free matinee show on a Friday afternoon right?
I felt bad for the film immediately as there were probably about 4 people in the theater. FOUR!
I don’t want to appear to be too hard on the movie. I’ve said many times that I try to enjoy every movie for what the filmmakers intended it to be. In this case, they wanted it to be a good old fashioned comic book action movie. If you go in expecting The Dark Knight, you’ll be disappointed.
It’s meant to be a fun movie and it succeeds admirably.
To me, it failed on two major points.
The Villain sucked
Chudnofsky was dead in the water from the very first moment he appeared on screen. Christoph Waltz does an okay job (at least it’s not Nicholas Cage with a Jamaican accent) but I’m not sure they ever fully decided who Chudnofsky is.
He spends most of the movie whining about whether or not people find him scary. I didn’t get it? He rules L.A yet he feels threatened by any criminal who steps on his turf.
I’m not even going to get into the scene where he declares himself ‘Blood-nofsky’. I wanted to laugh. There’s no way he’s serious right?
Woops… Oh no… He’s wearing an ‘intimidating’ gas mask…
When you don’t buy the villain, it doesn’t matter how cool the hero is.
But I suppose I didn’t ‘buy’ anything in this case.
Kato and The Green Hornet Fight Over A Girl
Okay, this one is essentially more of an annoyance. Why do partners always have to fight over a girl?
I understand it’s necessary sometimes but my problem is how forced their fight was. All of the sudden The Green Hornet becomes a raging jealous ass for basically no reason other than to . Sure Kato doesn’t help by antagonizing him but in the end, nobody gets the girl and they fought for nothing.
Best friends. Brothers even completely forget everything and start throwing each other through windows like it’s a drug deal gone wrong. (Which inflict no damage at all.)
A minor gripe but I was happier when that ‘episode’ was over.
In the end, The Green Hornet gives you exactly what you paid for. A pretty entertaining and sometimes funny action film with some cool stunts and a lot of bullets.
You can’t really ask for much more than that in the middle of January.
